Lace cutter



J. LUKE LACE CUTTER Dec. 3, 1946.

Filed June 14, 1945 Patented Dec. 3, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Wv LACE CUTTER Jack Luke, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Application June 14,1945, Serial No. 599,452

Claims. (01. 30-293) This invention relates to a lace cutter and amethod for cutting laces from leather and similar materials.

An object of this invention is to provide a lace cutter of the hand typewhich can efilciently and economica ly convert scrap leather and otherwaste materials into lace.

Another object of thi invention is to provide a, simplified and compactlace cutter which can be adjusted to accommodate materials of differentthicknesses and to cut lace of various widths.

A further object of this invention is to devise a method for cuttinglaces which is advantageous for converting irregular pieces of scrap.leather and other waste materials into laces.

A further object of this invention is to provide a practical method forcutting laces of very long length.

The lace cutter according to my invention comprises a handle, a bodyportion, a peripheral slot in the body portion substantially at rightangles to the longitudinal axis of the body portion, and a cutter bladeextending transversely of the slot and spaced with respect to the bottomof the slot. A feature of the device is the provision of a con- Vexbottom to the slot to facilitate spiral cutting of the laces. Furtherfeatures of the invention are the provision of means for adjusting thewidth of the slot to accommodate different thicknesses of material;means for adjusting the position of the cutting blade relative to thebottom of the slot; and means for facilitating the insertion of a stripor lace in the slot.

The method of cutting laces according to my invention comprises formingan aperture inside the outer periphery of a piece of material andcutting the lace spirally outwards from the centre of the material in auniform strip.

The above and other novel features of the invention will hereinafterappear in detail in the description that follows, and are illustrated inthe accompanying drawing in which similar reference characters indicatecorresponding parts, and in which,

Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 are side elevations of the lace cutter taken fromdifferent sides Figure 5 is an end view of the lace cutter; and

Figure 6 i a plan view of a piece of leather showing the cutter insection along the line 6-6 in Figure 2 cutting a lace in accordance withthe novel method of this invention.

Referring more fully to the preferred construction shown in the drawing,the lace cutter consists of a handle I and a co-axial body portion 2.

A peripheral slot 3 having a convex bottom 4 2 and sides 5 and 6 is cutinto the body portion 2 substantially at right angles to thelongitudinal axis of the handle I. A plate 1, having an integralsupporting bracket 8 which conforms with the rounded outer surface ofthe body portion 2 and i fastened to it by means of screw 9, is mountedin the slot 3. The plate I is adjustable to and from side 5 by means ofa slot H] in bracket 8 and the fastening screw 9.

A cutter blade II is secured in a support l2 by means of a screw E3. Thesupport I2 is in turn secured to a flat surface M of a cut-away sectionIS in the body portion 3 by means of a screw Hi. The cutter blade Hextends transversely of the slot 3 and is spaced from the bottomthereof. The cutting edge I! of the cutting blade is directed toward theslot to cut the material as it is pulled through the slot as hereafterdescribed. The outer cutting edge l8 may be used to sever laces intolengths. Y

All the parts of the lace cutter except the handle and body portion arepreferably of metal. The handle and body portion can be made in onepiece from wood. Y

By varying the distance between plate 1 and side 6 materials ofdiiferent thicknesses can be accommodated. By pivoting the support l2about screw I6, the distance between the cutterblade II and the bottom 4of the slot can be varied so as to cut lace of various widths.

The lace cutter according to this invention may be used to cut laces inthe conventional manner by adjusting the plate 1 to accommodate thematerial to be cut and adjusting .the cutter blade H with respect to thebottom 4 of the slot so as to obtain lace of the desired width. The edgeof the material from which the laces are to be cut is then placed in theslot and a short strip cut by the cutter blade. The end of this strip isthen grasped by the fingers of one hand and pulled in one directionwhile the tool is held by the other hand, thereby cutting off a longstrip of material of the desired width which forms a lace. Thisoperation is repeated until sufficient laces are obtained for thepurpose in view.

In the method of this invention, as illustrated in Figure 6, an opening[9 is formed in the centre of the irregularly shaped piece of material20. The lace cutter according to this invention is positioned with thebody portion extending through the opening I9 and the edge of thematerial 29 is contained in the slot 3. The plate I is adjusted so as tomake the distance between said plate 1 and the side 5 of the slotslightly greater than the width of the material so as to permit thematerial to slide through the slot but hold it sufficiently firmly toenable it to be cut. The distance between the cutter blade I l and thebottom 6 of the slot is adjusted so as to cut lace of the desired width.A short lace about half an inch in length is cut by the cutter blade i Ialong the periphery of the opening l9 by moving the lace cutter in aclockwise direction. The short lace is then pulled outwards from thelace cutter with the right hand while the lace cutter is kept stationarywith the left hand. By pulling the initially short lace, a lace 2| ofincreasing length is cut spirally outwards from the opening I!) whilethe piece of material 20 moves past the cutter blade in acounterclockwise spiral path; this can be continued in an uninterruptedoperation until substantially all of the piece of material 20 isconverted into an unbroken lace of uniform width. The outer edge !8 ofthe cutter blade can then be used for cutting the lace into desiredlengths.

By turning the lace cutter in towards the opening l9 so as to cut thelace transversely, the lace cutting operation may be stoppedintermediately and a lace of desired length obtained.

The convex bottom to the slot conforms to the edge of the circular holein the material being cut, as shown in Figure 6, so that the materialpasses through the slot without wrinkling or distorting with the resultthat a strip of material of uniform thickness is obtained. Furthermorethe convex bottom makes it possible to start cutting a lace from thematerial by merely inserting the cutter in the opening 19 and moving itclockwise,

as explained above, with the blade pressed against the side of the hole,without the necessity of cutting by scissors or other means a shortlength and threading it between the knife edge and the bottom of theslot.

The upper end of the body part 2 from the transverse slot 3 to its endis cut away or bevelled to produce a substantially concave portion 22 ofreduced cross-sectional area. If a length of lace isleft attached to thematerial from which it is out, when it is desired to cut a furtherlength of lace it is merely necessary to pull the free end of theattached piece of lace down from the end of the body portion between theedge of the blade I l and the body 2 of the cutter to insert it in slot3 without the necessity of threading it between the side of the bladeand the body or removing the blade.

While the invention has been drawn and described with particularreference to a specific embodiment, it is to be understood that it isnot to be limited thereto but is to be construed broadly and restrictedsolely by the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A lace cutter comprising a handle, a body portion, a peripheral slotin the body portion substantially at right angles to the longitudinalaxi of the body portion, a plate mounted in said slot spaced from andsubstantially parallel to a side of the slot and adjustable to and fromsaid side, and a cutter blade extending transversely of the slot andadjustably spaced with respect to the bottom of the slot.

2. A lace cutter comprising a handle, a body portion, a peripheral slotin the body portion having a convex bottom in the body portion, and acutter blade extending transversely of the slot and spaced with respectto the bottom of the slot.

3. A lace cutter comprising a handle, a body portion, a peripheral slotin the body portion substantially at right angle-s to the longitudinalaxis of the body portion, a support for the cutter blade, said supportbeing pivotally mounted on the body portion and swingable to vary thespacing of the blade from the bottom of the slot, and means for securingthe support in difierent adjusted positions.

4. A lace cutter comprising a handle, a body portion, a peripheral slotin the body portion substantially at right angles to the longitudinalaxis of the body portion, a plate mounted in said slot spaced from andsubstantially parallel to a side of the slot and adjustable to and fromsaid side, and a cutter blade extending transversely of the slot.

5. A lace cutter comprising a handle, a body portion, a peripheral slotin the body portion, and a cutter blade extending transversely of theslot and spaced with respect to the bottom of the slot, the body portionbetween the slot and its end having portion of reduced cross-sectionalarea to permit insertion of a lace between the edge of the blade and thebody portion.

JACK LUKE.

